The Eagles. Both sell out and genius. Both annoying and ephemeral. Discuss.

[Taverner]

And if you play Hotel California you can hear them say "MORE COKE! I NEED MORE COKE!!!"

[taterguy]

1. I hate the fucking Eagles

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

30. You don't like it....get your own fucking cab!"

[Elidor]

2. Redeeming features: Joe Walsh and Don Felder!

:headbang:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufc7Z76ko1Q
(they're not actually in this clip)

[Taverner]

3. Hey they were a good band. They just sold out.

They didn't even have a Golden Age like Genesis. They just plain did whatever the music market said to do.

Yet, they had awesome pop songs.

Go figure.

[Elidor]

8. Henley and Frey are assholes

Though at least Henley can write lovely songs. Felder brought Hotel California to them. They treated him badly.

[TZ]

4. So friggen what

I think Hotel California is one of the greatest rock songs EVER!
And to all you Eagles haters that will show up..YOU SUCK!!:P

[dolo amber]

5. I have VERY bad childhood memories of both The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac

Let's just say they involved a hot tub, my parents, the neighbors, and some very strange-smelling "incense".

No child should be forced to grow up with hippie parents in SoCal in the early-mid 70s.

:cry:

[Taverner]

7. Uh oh....

[dolo amber]

9. There was manbutt

:cry:

[old mark]

6. Get the video for "Hell Freezes Over",

watch it from the beginning. They are first rate musicians, and as a stage band, near impossible to beat.
I was so impressed with their opening, I am still stunned by it.
But personally, they seen like assholes.
mark

[LanternWaste]

10. The Last Resort...

The Last Resort... not simply one of my fave Eagle's tunes, but in my Top 25 Pop Tunes of All Times list.

Hard to have gone to HS in the early eighties and not begin annoying co-workers with my unique habit of humming and singing at the same time. Too many afternoons in the school parking lot sitting on a tail gate and listening to The Eagles while watching the newest freshmen get victimized for being a freshman. Too many evenings at the park making out with my best gal while the strains of Desperado playing in the background.

(ahhh... the not-quite-fictional romanticizing of my youth-- it's finally happened. I'm now Officially An Old Man)


"There were lines on the mirror, lines on her face' they pretended not to notice, they were caught up in the race..." That's some pretty clever stuff. Genius? I'm not one to say-- I don't really look at many modern musicians outside of Stan Kenton/George Gershwin as musical geniuses-- but I will go on record as saying The Eagles were a damn good rock outfit.

As an aside: maybe two years ago, maybe three, PBS had aired a documentary on the evolution of Folk Music-- going back to Arlo Guthrie and his influences, up through the era of The Byrds and through to the early seventies. One of the the opinions put forth was that The Eagles were the embodiment of Good Songwriting and Superior Marketing by the labels. :shrug:

[Schema Thing]

13. the Last Resort: the song I always return to

when I'm asked "what is your favorite song?" I'm not really the type to have "favorite" songs, so I am always a little taken back by the fact that that song always comes to the forefront of my mind when asked about "favorites". I guess it just speaks to me philosophically, and musically.



<P>

That said, I never listen to the Eagles anymore.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. The Eagles suck hard enough to bend light.

:puke:

[Archae]

12. Eagles, "soap opera rock."

The people in Eagle's songs, are best described as "trash."
Cheating wives and husbands, druggies, etc.

[Zavulon]

14. Without Joe Walsh, they're an annoying country band.

:hide:

[Fenris]

15. Where the fuck is the Cheating Side of Town?

Fuck the Eagles.

[harmonicon]

16. no, they just kind of suck...

they don't even suck enough to deserve complete hatred that the likes of Led Zeppelin get from me. Their mild sucking, however, almost makes it worse - like they can't even be balls-to-the-wall when it comes to sucking.

[ghostsofgiants]

20. They are a bastion of mediocrity.

[begin_within]

17. I like the fact that they called their reunion tour the "Hell Freezes Over Tour"

[Robeson]

18. Other: Most Overrated Group EVAH....

...that is all.

[mitchum]

19. "Take It To The Limit" is genius...

one of the finest records ever. Everything about it is perfect- vocal, melody, lyric, arrangement, orchestration, production. Everything.
I hate everything else by them (although I have always found them fascinating)

[begin_within]

21. Their best song is "On the Border"

in my opinion anyway.

[southpaw]

47. I thought that was Al Stewart

Did the Eagles have their own 'On the Border?'

[begin_within]

22. My Mom had a miscarriage in the building shown on the "Hotel California" album cover

In the 1950s it was used as a hospital for a while and my Mom was there briefly. Now it's owned by the state and is right next to the Chino state prison.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

31. Wow

That's some pretty disturbing rock trivia to break out at a party.

[begin_within]

32. You can actually visit that building, my sister did the programming for the phone system

for the state prison, and she saw the building. I'm not sure exactly what the status of it is now, I believe it's owned by the state of California, but they're not doing anything with it at this time. But I don't know if that's up-to-date information. I'm only referring to the photo on the front cover of the Hotel California album - the photo inside the album was taken somewhere else I believe.

[qwertyMike]

23. Songs

for lonely women

[Tuesday Afternoon]

24. something about them ...

but, I also understand why people consider them sell outs..

Certain Kind of Fool
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWqU6U8vSuk&feature=related

Doolin Dalton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE2BVSpkUoY&feature=related

[speedoo]

25. I see no genius in them. None at all.

Lots of sellout.

I don't believe I own anything of theirs.

Actually just one track... the drummer guy singing one tune on a Warren Zevon tribute album.

[jobycom]

26. They ranged from tolerable to annoying. Except Henley, sometimes.

I don't know which songs Henley wrote and which Frey wrote, since they both got credit for most of them, but based on what they each did afterwards, Henley seemed to have a more serious strain, musically and lyrically. "The End of the Innocence" was one of the best songs of the 80s, and "Dirty Laundry" and "All she wants to do is dance" (Henley didn't write it, but he still chose it) were both more sophisticated than anything Frey did. "You Belong to the City," "The Heat is On," "Smuggler's Blues..." Frey's music and lyrics were one dimensional.

I liked them most when they had a country/blues/folk sound, like "Wasted Time" and "Desperado." That's when they sounded like they had something to express, an artist's vision. They were at their worst when they tried to be large, like "Heartache Tonight," which sounded overproduced and without any real purpose.

"Hotel California" has been overplayed so much I honestly can't listen to it objectively. I hate the song because of overexposure, but sometimes the guitar work catches me off gaurd and impresses me. The lyrics sound ridiculously pretentious to me, but they were so overplayed, and so often imitated, that maybe the pretention is because so many later songwriters ruined it through duplication.

My tired, uninformed, opinion before fading off to sleep.

[nomorenomore08]

27. Mixed bag, but lately I just can't get "Take It Easy" out of my head.

Well, Im running down the road
Tryin to loosen my load
Ive got seven women on
My mind,
Four that wanna own me,
Two that wanna stone me,
One says shes a friend of mine
Take it easy, take it easy
Dont let the sound of your own wheels
Drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can
Dont even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand
And take it easy
Well, Im a standing on a corner
In winslow, arizona
And such a fine sight to see
Its a girl, my lord, in a flatbed
Ford slowin down to take a look at me
Come on, baby, dont say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is
Gonna save me
We may lose and we may win though
We will never be here again
So open up, Im climbin in,
So take it easy
Well Im running down the road trying to loosen
My load, got a world of trouble on my mind
Lookin for a lover who wont blow my
Cover, shes so hard to find
Take it easy, take it easy
Dont let the sound of your own
Wheels make you crazy
Come on baby, dont say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is
Gonna save me, oh oh oh
Oh we got it easy
We oughta take it easy

SEVEN women? Really? Talk about having a full plate! :eyes:

[crimsonblue]

28. I grew up on the Eagles

and whenever my family gets together for vacations, there's always the Eagles blaring incessently in the background. I both hate and love the Eagles. The songs are amazing, but they are played too goddamn much. I think my dad listened to the Eagles and smoked pot in college. So yeah, I like them.. I can tell that the drugs have been kind to Joe over the years, and Don is a douchebag who rights BS romantic comedy-esque ballads. But, one of the guys in the group is from my hometown, so that makes them permanently awesome. Also, their latest album sucks balls, and i want to kill myself when I hear a song from it.

[nicktom]

29. Great Band,

Their first four albums were all great. Also I think they were under appreciated musicians.
Peaceful Easy Feeling to this day is still one of my all time favorites. Definitely a soundtrack
of the seventies here in SoCal.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

33. I own their Greatest Hits, both volumes

Only because I think by right as a classic rock fan, I should. "Hotel California" is as played out as "Sweet Home Alabama" and almost everything by The Doors.

[Enthusiast]

34. We love Long Road Out Of Eden! nt

[Bake]

35. Sell-outs? I challenge anyone

to name a single popular band with ANY longevity at all that couldn't be described as "sell-out." Go ahead. I dare you.

You can't do it.

Bake

[RaVeN_MeaD]

38. Pink Floyd, The Band, Iron Maiden, Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn

Should I continue

[Bake]

39. Stevie Ray? Dead. That kinda nixes the "longevity" part.

I love SRV. Not a sellout. But not "longevitied" enough. Same for Hendrix.

Neil Young and Pink Floyd? Maybe, maybe not.

Iron Maiden? Who the hell is that anyway?

The Band? Respectable, for sure. But nowhere near the popularity of The Eagles.

Bake

[RaVeN_MeaD]

40. ahh but my point is made

"I love SRV. Not a sellout. But not "longevitied" enough. Same for Hendrix." I'll give you that but Stevie at least has a decade under his belt.

"Iron Maiden? Who the hell is that anyway?" They are metal. Started in the late 70s they have released 13 albums since. strong fan base and considered the fathers of "Epic Metal" by many.

The Band was not as commercial as the Eagles but they were quite popular.

I love music talk :)

[Bake]

42. By definition, almost, to be "commercial" means "sell-out."

That's not necessarily a bad thing. Musicians gotta eat, too.

And I was sorta joking about Iron Maiden, I know who they are. Not exactly "mainstream," ergo, not "commercial" and not as widely popular as, say, The Eagles.

I grew up listening to The Eagles. Some of their stuff was great. Some, not so much. Like some other bands, when they were good they were very very good.

SRV and Hendrix? Two of the top three guitar gods. We can argue about the third ... :D

Bake

[RaVeN_MeaD]

45. Yeah that #3 position has a lot of contenders....

Most days its Jimmy Paige.

[Buzz Clik]

36. Yuck. Too many songs. So little imagination.

They did some decent covers.

[madinmaryland]

37. The Eaglets will be lucky to finish at 500 this year. McNabb will get

injured half way thru the season and they'll lose seven of their last eight games!

HOW ABOUT THEM COWBOYS!!1!!

[NJmaverick]

41. Eagles Suck! Giants all the way!

oops... I thought this was a football thread

[madinmaryland]

44. Which Eli Manning is going to show up this year??

:hide:

[NJmaverick]

46. Best guess is during the regular season he will be better

than last regular season, but not as good as the what we saw in play offs.

[KG]

43. the eagles need to be taken in context. .

they were a great 70's FM radio rock n roll band.

[southpaw]

48. Felder got screwed!

I think Henley has had some fine moments both with the Eagles and on his own. Can't stand Frey.